Fremont Chamber of Commerce

You may remember that when the Fremont Chamber of Commerce was opposing Councilmember Bob Wieckowski’s proposal for a ban on Styrofoam food containers, its argument was that the city should start with getting businesses to participate voluntarily.

Strike one for that. The Chamber had to cancel its workshops scheduled for today due to lack of registrants.

You’ve got to hand it to the Fremont Chamber, they’ve got some stones. Ten people are running for two city council seats, they represent just about any constituency you can imagine, and the chamber’s political action committee endorses just one person, and it’s not even the incumbent.

The chamber’s PAC, Business for Better Government, endorsed Trisha Tahmasbi and only Trisha Tahmasbi for city council.

They also endorsed Tahmasbi’s boss, Alberto Torrico for Assembly; Bob Wasserman for mayor; Desrie Campbell, Bryan Gebhardt and Ivy Wu for school board; Bob Brunton and Greg Bonaccorsi for Ohlone College Board and Pat Danielson and Bill Nicholson for Washington Hospital Board.

I know what a couple of people are thinking: “Wait a minute, they didn’t endorse Sue Chan? But John Dutra is supporting her, and John Dutra owns Fremont. He owns the Chamber. They could only make endorsements because he let them out of his back pocket.”

I don’t know what to tell you two. Maybe Mr. Dutra has already scaled Mission Peak in a single leap and is preparing to rain down thunderbolts on Chamber CEO Cindy Bonior.

The two mild surprises for me was picking Brunton over Lam Research’s Teresa Cox, and selecting only Tahmasbi for council. You figure if they’re going to endorse Torrico and his top assistant, they may as well also endorse his law parter, Councilmember Bob Wieckowski. Maybe Bob is a little too into banning Styrofoam cups and plastic shopping bags — two initiatives that the chamber opposed. But there are plenty of pro business challengers. How about Fazlur Khan or Larry Montgomery? I just met Larry tonight. Cool guy, cooler bike. He rides a Harley and wears Pittsburgh Steelers crocs. I wish I could be that cool.

Even I saw this one coming. Everyone knows the Chamber of Commerce wants the A’s in Fremont, but the chamber made it official with a vote and good old fashion press release.

The chamber says the team will bring high-end retail to Fremont. It also says the A’s have indicated they will “assume all costs for additional security, traffic and parking management, and shuttle services on game days.”

The chamber continues: “The bottom line is this: what kind of City do we wish to be? A vibrant destination point, attractive to retail and industry alike, able to provide the level of services and activities important to residents, business and travelers? We think so. Our support for this project is an acknowledgement of this belief.”